An annual tradition in Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak Road Runners Winter series had several Thelen Coaching Athletes racing. It's a four race series at a variety of venues around town - from the hilly Cheyenne Mountain State Park course to the flat Pikes Peak Greenway race. Sometimes weather shows up for the fun, sometimes it's more summer like conditions. This year had both, adding to the challenges. Race 1 - Cheyenne Mountain State Park. This is one of the hilliest of the courses, especially for the long series, with the climb up to the top of South Talon. Even the short series race isn't easy, climbing up Sundance and returning to the finish via Talon. Dianna and Brenda tackled the 3(ish) mile course and came away with decent times for the challenging course. Dianna set a new PR for the course, running 38:45 - taking over two minutes off her time. Brenda finished in 45:59, making a good benchmark for her return to running. In the long series, Dawn battled through so...

Judd headed up to Minnesota again for the Arrowhead 135 at the end of January. After setting a single speed record last year of 21:05, Judd opted to race in the new unsupported class. It would be great prep for the Iditarod Trail Invitational and a new challenge. Conditions at the start looked like it could be another fast year, with cold temperatures and light snow falling. The teperatrue was supposed to stay cold, but not super cold - in the 0-10*s range. Perfect for racing.  Pre-race shake out with the Back of the Pack Racing crew. Photo - Judd Rohwer The race stuck together to the first checkpoint, with Judd only a few minutes off his time from 2017. Conditions were still good, but starting to deteriorate. It was getting colder, the humidity was high for winter riding. Judd kept pushing through, but his pace was slowing. Given that he was carrying twice as much weight as last year, that was expected. Matching the fast time from 2017 while racing self supported was a tall o...

Thelen Coaching athletes started the year off right at the Rescue Run, with athletes in both the 5k and 10k races. It's one of the harder races in town, with the first mile all up hill in both races, rolling hills from miles 1-5 in the 10k and then a downhill final mile. The 5k is uphill to the turn around, then downhill back to the finish, making pacing challenging. In the 10k, Dianna finished in 1:14:12, a huge PR for her. Not a bad way to start the year out! Dawn ran 1:10:36, setting a bench mark time for her 10k. That should be easy to beat given how hard the Rescue Run course is... And Jen decided to take on the challenge during her visit from NC, running 1:17:10 and as she said "not finishing dead last!" Not bad for someone from sea level. Brenda was the only athlete in the 5k, finishing in 44:39 - a little slower the previous years, but she's just now getting back into consistent running. At the Game Day 5k a month later, it was another solid day of racing. T...